MELBOURNE, Nov 16 AAP - Ansett has revived the days of cut price air-fare wars with the announcement today of special one-way fares between state capitals.
The special fares, which the company said would be lower than most of those offered by Qantas, are only available via internet bookings and had to be booked by midnight on Sunday.
They are available for travel from today until the end of January.
While Ansett has posted the same $66 one-way fare as Qantas on Australia's busiest route - Melbourne to Sydney - the resurgent carrier was offering moderate savings on other routes.
Ansett's Melbourne-Perth fare of $187 represented a saving of $33 on the best price offered by Qantas while its best Melbourne-Adelaide rate was $99, $11 less than Qantas.
The specials come a day after Ansett administrators and creditors accepted the offer for Ansett MkII from Melbourne businessmen Lindsay Fox and Solomon Lew and set January 31 as the target date for the transfer of ownership.
The Fox-Lew vision for a resurrected Ansett includes spending $2.5 billion on 29 new Airbus A320s, which would fly Ansett's main routes
An in-principle agreement had been signed with French-owned Airbus Industrie to purchase the aircraft leases.
The proposed operation would require at least 4,000 staff
In announcing the creditors' decision, administrators Mark Mentha and Mark Korda called for the aviation industry to maintain their sanity in fare discounting.
Mr Mentha urged former Ansett regulars to support their attempts to successfully return the airline to the skies but said that ultimate success depended on business travellers.
He told reporters that Qantas had attempted to poach former Ansett corporate clients offering attractive inducements to lock big-spending companies into long-term exclusive travel deals.
The administrators said they hoped the advances in services that Ansett MkII had made would result in former corporate clients returning to the fold.
"It's the business sector that underpins leisure travel," Mr Mentha said.
The Ansett tickets specials also come a day after Qantas announced it was cutting back its international flights because of the downturn in tourism after September 11.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the company also intended to axe between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs and seek an 18-month wage freeze.
AAP